Method and means for making meat tender



Feb. 13, 1923. 1,445,018.

' -T. F. HORRIGAN ET AL. METHOD AND MEANS FOR MAKING MEAT TENDER.

FILED JUNE 28, I922.

Patented see. 13, was. I 1,445,018

artisan harass castes.

THOMAS-l5. HOBRIGAN, OF REVERE, AND ELSIE M. DURWARD, F BOSTON, IVZASSA- CHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS OF ONE-THIRD TO WALTEB V. NEAL, OIE MALDEII, MASSA- CHUSETTS. p

REETHOD AND MEANS FOR TMAKING TMEA'I TENDER.

Application filed June 23, 1922. Serial No. 571,370. T ll ho it may comem; above stated and in a tool particularly de- 55 B it known th t We: THOMAS }3 H signed, adapted and intended for carrying PIGAN d E M D n itiz s f out this treatment, the characteristics of the United states, residing ti ly t which in detail are explained in the follow- Revere and BOSiZOIl,-l30th in the county of 5; Specification. in connection With the Suffolk and State of Massachusetts have inng. I 60 vented new and useful Improvements in In the drawing, 1

Methods and Means for Making Meat Figure. l is a perspective view showing a Tender, of which the following is a specifiraw beefsteak with the tool which we have ti devised for the purposes of this invention The result sought by the present invention inserted therein to perform the steps in 65 is to make meat tender and particularly to which the method consists. do so without scoring the surfaces of the Figure 2 is a perspective view representpiece of meat which is treated for that puring the steak as though cut through on the 15 pose. P'eces of meat in the nature of steaks plane in which the tool is inserted. and illusand chops are those in connection with trating the way in which the tool is manipu- 70 which it has its field of greatest usefulness. lated to effect the desired result.

althou h we do not b 1 this statement intend Fi ure 3 a .fra mentar sectional view d o z: b y

to exclude from the protection of our claims of a special form of tool having a detachany kind of pieces upon which the method able blade and adapted for the purpose in 4 may be practiced. Pieces of the sort indiview. 7

cated are usually in the form of slices of In Figures 1 and 2 represents a piece of more or less uniform thickness and with opsteak having a layer of fat 7) on the edge posite faces which are more or less nearly and. containing among the fibers of edible,

11 1, tissue tendons or strings c, c of gristle or It is well known that many cuts of meat whatever material. it is that, interspersed 80 are not suitable for eating in the form of among the edible meat, interferes with mastisteaks and chops because of being too tough cation. 7 and this is particularly true of beef; but it In order to make the meat easily mastiis equally well known that some of the catable but. without destroying its superficial tough parts of beef are also the juiciest and integrity, we have provided a cutting tool 85 best flavored parts. which is adapted to be inserted in the in- The cause of the tough condition of the terior of the meat from one edge and to be meat is largely due to the presence of tough moved by manipulation here and there to tendons and strings of gristle or some other any'extent desired throughout the interior substance which is not susceptible of mastiwherever necessary to cutigristle and tough 90 cation and the presenceof which in sulhcient tendons. Such tool consists of a short blade quantity prevents the edible meat tissue (Z on the en dof a narrow shank e, the latter from being masticated. Practically in order being preferably mounted in a suitable 40 to make use of the edible qualities of such handle fr. Important characteristics of the parts of the meat they must be cooked in such blade are that it is wider than the shank and 95 a way that the original flavor is lost or has cutting edges 65', d between the shank changed. It isthe' object of our invention and its outermost points, as well as cutting to enable meat of this sort to be so treated edges d (Z between these OlltGlfh'lOSt points that it can be readily and thoroughly mastiand its forward points, andthatits extreme cated When cooked in a manner to retain the width is at the same time so narrow that it 100 original flavor-that is, the manner in which may be turned in a plane perpendicular to steaks and chops are usually cooked, and to the faces of the meat without protruding apply the treatment in such a way as to through either face Having regard to the leave the surfaces of the piece of meat intact fact that different kinds of meat may be and so in a condition to retain the juices of cut into steaks or chops of greater or less 165 the meat. thickness, the absolute width of the blade Our invention consists both in a new mode may be more or less in a specific tool, ac-

of treating meat as and for the purposes cording as the tool is to be used with thin or thick pieces. Relatively to the meat, however, the Width of the blade is always preterably less than the thickness of the piece Practically, and having regard to the fact that, ordinarily, steaks are cut with a thickness not much exceeding} {one inch, and seldom more than two inches, the preferred Width of the blade is between one quarter and three-quarters of an inch. lf course a blade narrow enough to be used with thin pieces of meat can likewise be used with those of the greatest thickness.

lln using the tool thus characterized to perform the method which our invention resides, the tool grasped by the handle and the blade is plunged into e meat from one edge approximately midway between the opposite surfaces as shown in Figure l.

' It is then moved back and torth to any point Where the strings o1?- gristle and tough tendons are found, and in addition it is preterably pushed in, and drawn back many times accompanied by lateral shifting of the blade between inward and outward movements. Thatis, referring to Figure it may be assumed that the cut-ting tool is so moved and shifted angularly to the positions indicated by dotted lines l and P and to any other position in the area about the point of entrance as a. center.

Preferably in making tions the blade is held at an inclination to the opposite surtaces of the piece rather than. squarely parallel thereto, which is the position. indicated in Figure 2 When held at an inclination the cuts the incising nomade not only sever the bits of tough ,e'ristle but they also cut the edible tissue. By thus moving the cutter into a large enough nun'iber ot' different positions and giving it an inward thrust and an outward pull in each position, accompanied, if desired. by a twisting movement of the Whole tool, the interior mass of the meat Will be more or less thoroughly cut up into partially severed slices. Then after the operation has been carried out as extensively as desired at one point of entry, the tool may be Withdrawn and inserted at another point, and the operation repeated there; and the Whole process may be re peated continuously at a large number of: different points at the same or different sides of the piece. In this Way the tough parts in the interior of the piece can be so thoroughly disintegrated that when the meat is eaten no appreciable suggestion. of the original toughness rein-aii'is. In this manner the toughest meat may be made equal, in its capacity for mastication, to the teuderest of untreated meat.

In all'this operation the cutting tool remains inside of the meat Without ever cutting through the surface, or if it should, by accident, cut through, the surface cuts are so few and infrequent that there is no is, this liability of the piece falling apart. That is, the external integrity of the meat is sub stantially preserved and so is its ability to retain the meat juices While being cut. Vi e have noted, in cooking meat treated accordi115; to our method, that While being broiled or cooked on a hot pan, little or none of the uices escape, and upon being aten after cooking the original juices are present in substantially full measure.

Referring to the cutting tool, an. additional. preferred characteristic is that the rear cutting edges (/7. 5 incline outwardly away from the shank 2 l away from. the forward point. While thi. chars teristic may be omitted within the scope ot' the pro tection which We claim, no "theless it is of value as means tor insuring that tough strings oi? gristle will be out, because anything that lies between. the path ofeither lateral point and the shank during the Withdravi'ig movement or the cutter will be drawn inward and will surely be cut. That particular formation of the blade prom-nits the tough from. being pushed aside without being cut, as might occur ii. the edges B1316 an obtuse ano'le 'With the shank and were not particularly sharp.

For some purooses it is preferable to make the blade of the cutter detachable from the shank, so that new cutter may be substituted ifoue previously in use is broken or becomes dull. and to avoid the need of shurpeniup,- a dull blade. hie of the various possible constructions of blade and means for detachably securing" it to the shank is indicated in Figure $14. Here the shanl: of the tool is inade ot two half tubes 6, 6 or at least that end which. holds the blade is so made, these semi-tubes being: placed edge to edge. The blade Z has a. short shank 5 on the extremity of which two lateral shoulders 71, Zzfw rich :rdap x l to enter holes in the opposite sides ot the tubular shank e, 6 The outer ends oithese tubular members being}; spread apart, the integral tool shank g is insertec into the open end until its shoulders reach the holes in the semi-tubes. when the latter are permitted to spring together. A sleeve sliding on the tubular shank is then slipped outward until arrested by an enlargement oi the extremity oi the tubular shank (in which position it eu'iln'uccs the shoulders) and so locks the shank and blade together and prevents the latter from being pulled out and left in the meat. (lther niodes oi detaching and applying the blade to the shank may be used, or the blade and shank may be made integral With one another if desired.

What We claim and desire Letters Patent is:

1. The method of making meat tender to secure by inane-is which consists in cutting the interior of a piece of meat, substantially without cutting the surfaces of the piece.

2. The method of making meat tender which consists in incising the interior of a piece of raw meat from an edge thereof.

3. The "method of making meat tender which consists in incising the interior of a piece of raw meat from an edge thereof and limiting the cuts so made substantially to the interior of the piece.

The method of making meat tender which consists in inserting into a piece of meat, from an edge and between the faces thereof, a cutting blade, and moving said de back and forth in difierent directions from its point of entrance.

The method of making meat tender which consists in inserting into a piece of meat, from an edge and between the faces thereof, a cutting blade, and moving said blade back and forth in different directions from its point of entrance, at the same time so manipulating such blade as substantially to prevent it from protruding from the faces of the piece.

'6. The method of making meat tender which consists in inserting into the interior 7 of a piece of meat, from an edge thereof between its faces, a blade on the end of a shank, which blade has greater width than the shank and has cutting edges both at front and rear, and and forth in. the interior of the piece in different directions from the point of entrance.

1''. The method of making meat tender which consists in inserting into the interior of a piece of meat, from an edge thereof between its faces, a blade on the end of a shank, which blade has greater width than the shank, but less than the thickness of the piece of meat, and has cutting edges both at front and rear, and moving such blade back and forth in the interior of the piece in different directions from the point of en'- trance.

8. The method of making meat tender which consists in inserting into the interior of a piece of meat, from an edge thereof between its faces, a blade on the end of a shank, which blade has greater width than the shank and has cutting edges both at front and rear, and moving such blade back and forth in the interior of the piece in difmoving such blade back relatively ferent directions from the point of entrance, at the same time inclining the plane of the blade to the broad surfaces of the piece of meat, from an edge and between the faces thereof, a cutting blade, and moving said blade back and forth in difierent directions from its point of entrance, withdrawingthe blade and re-inserting it at a different point of entrance, and then similarly manipulatingit from the new point of entrance.

10. The method of making meat tender which consists in inserting into the edge of a piece of meat, a cutting tool having a slender shank and a blade of greater width than said shank, which blade has cutting edges both at front and rear and the rear edges making less than an obtuse angle with the shank, the width of the blade also being less than the thickness of the piece of meat,

and manipulating said blade by moving said tool endwise in different directions from the point of entrance and in such manner as to incise the interior of the piece and to preserve substantially the integrity of the surfaces of the piece. f

11. A tool for use in performing the method herein set forth comprising a relatively slender shank and a blade of greater width than said shank carried thereby, said blade havin r cutting edges at both front and rear, where y it is enabled to cut when being pushed into, and also when being withdrawn from, a piece of meat. I

12. A. tool for use in performing the method hereinbefore disclosed which comprises a. slender shank and a blade on the end of said shank, which blade is of greater width than the shank and projects laterally on different sides thereof, with both forward and rear cutting edges, the rear cutting edges being arranged at acute angles with the shank, whereby in being withdrawn from the interior of a piece of meat, such rear edges tend to draw tough fibers of the meat substance toward the shank and insure cutting of such fibers.

In testimony whereof we have afiixed our signatures.

THOMAS F. HORRIGAN. ELSIE M. DURWARD. 

